I will never give up my camera, NEVER! Most people these days rely on their cell phones for picture-taking purposes. When I was in Ireland I used both my camera and my phone. Then, in the evening, I could post photos to Facebook from my phone. IF I buy a wi-fi enabled camera then I wouldn't need to use my phone for photos anymore. I am considering it.

On the other hand, I keep all my photos on my laptop and on flash drives - I don't make as many prints and albums as I used to. When I asked at Walmart where are the photo albums the clerk said, "oh, we don't stock them anymore"! I find that sad. But I found lots at Michael's and they were all 50% off!

My brother, Kim, and I started taking photos at a very young age. I have photos of myself up in trees, standing on the roof of our house wearing my mother's clothes and high heels, (obviously unbeknownst to my mother!), running up and down the fire escape at our elementary school and so on. Kim and I were enraptured by our mother's collection of old movie magazines and publicity photos. We did our own reenactments of famous scenes from "Gone with the Wind"and "The Wizard of Oz" using a tape recorder Kim got for Christmas one year.

But...I digress...

Since my childhood I have felt like a recorder of events. I take photos of everything, protest events, PRIDE parades, Kilally Meadows, flowers, birds, clouds, the cats - you've seen it all here. I come home from every trip abroad with 2,000-3,000 photos - I never know exactly what I've captured until I get home and start editing.

This year, as in many Christmases past, photos play a large part in my gift giving. Our new blessing, Hannah, is receiving a little album full of treasures. She mentioned to me when I was showing her photos of Kazi as a baby, that she didn't have any photos of "their dad" as her mother threw them all out. So I went through all of Kazi's albums to find any photos of their dad. I scanned and scanned, then had them printed at Walmart.

Included are photos of Kazi and Hannah's paternal grandparents. They are both named Kazimiera (Hannah's middle name) in memory of their Polish grandmother who was forced to sing on German radio to survive the labour camps of WWII. Their grandfather could grace the pages of any movie star magazine!

Then, one day at Michael's, I saw this album:

So.....off to Walmart again with my flash drive for photos of Luna and Lily to put in Kazi's stress busting little album: who can look at these photos and not smile?

Cheeky girls!!

Lily looks kinda jowly!

Another gift for Kazi this Christmas (I go for inexpensive yet meaningful!) -
in honour of the Cobalt (Stella) which I gave her a few years ago when I bought Dougie the Dodge.
Kazi cried when saying goodbye to Stella and pulled off a bit of rusty car as a memento. What she doesn't know (shhhhhh!) is that I've mounted that rusty bit of Stella in a shadow box for her to keep forever. Or until the next time she cleans her room, which could be until "forever"! I should have taken it out of the box for photos but you get the idea.

My last photo of photos today exists in almost all homes - the photo fridge depository: I see...a baby picture of Kazi, three photos of Hannah, a photo of my two sisters, a photo of one of my brothers, one of my sisters and me from the last time I was in PEI, a photo of my twin grand nieces, old notes, invitations, ticket stubs, a strip of 4 photo booth pictures of Kazi and I, a "grandpa" magnet (my dad died well over a decade ago), the note I wrote to my mom after she died, love notes from Kazi to me etc.

Once, years ago, a colleague came to my house to pick me up for a school-related function. As she came in the front door she asked "do you mind if I look at your fridge?...I learn so much about people from what they put on their fridge." It's true isn't it? It's like an evolving time capsule...when I get something I want to add it often means the removal of some former treasure. So what remains is what's most important at this particular moment in time.

To me, that's what a photo is - it represents something sacred in that particular moment in our personal history - more precious than diamonds.

Mamean to Lake Inagh Lodge

 We left the safety of St. Patrick and headed on down the very wet mountain pass. The loose rocks were hard on my knee and we had to jump lots of puddles and streams of water but the sun was shining and it was an amazing trail. We still had a half day's walk ahead of us. We ended up walking a couple extra kilometres as we kept on going straight at a point in the road where we should have veered left...at least it wasn't raining!

We had mountains to the left of us (the Twelve Bens) and mountains to the right of us (the Maumturks) so is it any wonder we got off on the wrong trail? My eyes were on the mountains instead of the trail! Actually, it was the right trail and we walked it again the next day but it was the wrong trail since we wanted to detour to the Lodge where we were spending the night!!

Our heads were constantly swivelling to the right and the left snapping lots and lots of photos.  The immense beauty left me speechless as all I could say was  "wow, wow, wow....."

Thank goodness the weather gods were with us so we could take photos.  (Note to self - buy a water-proof camera!!) The road between the two mountain ranges was called The Old Stage Road and it wasn't too bad for walking.

 People were far and few between, but sheep were plentiful. I felt as though I was walking in a dream.

 You'd have to be made of pretty sturdy stuff to live in these parts year round depending on the rocky land to support you.

I'm sturdy, but not that sturdy!

Give me a hot shower and central heating, clean socks :) and a pint or two after a day like today!

 It all looks so wonderful, but it wouldn't have been an easy life which might explain all of the empty dwellings.

You can see the road is pretty easy going here.

 The Maumturks were so colourful - I don't know what the vegetation was that created all the various colours - orange, bronze, yellow, pink and red. Glorious.

To the left of us were boggy fields and we got to experience them first hand a little later.

The sheep were right at home.

  That wonderful neon green was everywhere.

We did come across one or two farms that looked as though they were prospering, backed by the colourful Maumturks.

It wasn't too far from here where we should have turned left.

But for now we're doing ok, just following the road between the mountains.

 Lots of peaty coloured streams.

People still burn the free peat (turf).

More peat. Piles and piles of peat!

 We could see some bits of Lake Inagh to our left.

One other farm being worked - I think it was just past here that we went wrong....

 I'd love to know what's growing on these mountains!

 Incredible!

 Wow, wow, wow...

We are officially off Stage Road now and following the Western Way trail. We kept looking for the Lodge and walked a good 2-3km hoping upon hope that around the next bend we would see it. No such luck.

 The trail was very mucky and smelly from sheep urine, very unpleasant! We finally had to admit we were on the wrong road. Over to our left past the boggy fields we could see cars on a highway and figured that's where we should be. I didn't want to walk all the way back so we went cross country or bushwhacking as we call it around here. WELL! All I could do was laugh as water from the bogland filled my boots and I went arse over teakettle and landed on my face in the soup!

We went over to a fence so we'd have something to hold onto and slowly and carefully made our way across the fields. Along the way my shirt caught twice on the barbed wire fence making a few holes. Then we met up with a stream, another barrier to get across somehow.

 We followed the stream and eventually it met with the road and a small bridge. We were finally on the right road.

 There's the bridge and Lake Inagh. A  couple were stopped at the side of the road taking photos. I asked the woman if she knew where the lodge was but she must have taken me for a "tramp" with my dirty and ripped clothes as she snapped "NO" and got back in her car!

Around a curve in the road, only a couple hundred metres away we found our lodge! We were ever so thankful!
Lake Inagh Lodge - very civilized! Not a great selection of beer but I managed. The bathroom was huge and had a lovely tub!

Just as we arrived it began to sprinkle. Perfect timing.

 The view from the lodge.

My socks & sock liners after trying to clean them! Letting them dry. Also tried to wash my rain pants in the bath tub without much luck. I brought some of the bog home with me!  I kept the socks but tossed out my ripped shirt. I stuffed my boots with newspaper and then later used the hair dryer to dry them out for the next day.

Thus ended a long day, filled with adventure! More to come!

Encounters of the Animal Kind

One of the best parts of hiking through the countryside is connecting with

all of the animals we come across: sheep,  horses, sheep, cows, sheep, seals, birds, sheep, chickens, cats and sheep!

Such intelligent eyes and loving Annie's touch.

 I seem to have a thing for sheep. I just want to hug them...

...or join them munching in the rocky fields.

Such a simple life...

What a life...not a worry in the world.

Is it me or does this sheep have two bodies?

One day someone will be wearing your wool sweater!

There are not too many places a sheep cannot go.

Not a lot of cows, but a couple here and there.

 Curlews?

I see you! One donkey-donk being bashful.

 One of those faces only a mother......... 

Whenever I saw a cat I felt a wee bit homesick.

 Seals always look like they're having fun!

My favourite creature of all! I included all four photos I took of this horse...

....something about the rippling muscles...

...the head tossing

...and the thoughtful expression tugged at my heart... 

 And then there's this wee one looking all cute!

You're cute too!

We didn't come across as many snails as we did walking Hadrian's Wall

last year but they are always photo-worthy!

 Just imagining how soft that fur is...homesick!

Magical - just missing its one horn :)

Oh, yes, you're magical too!

...and you!

...and you!

Time to go...

 ...there are so many more rocks to climb and grass to eat.

You know what they say...

...the grass is always greener....